Yesterday Nujoma instructed the State broadcaster to show films that portray Namibia in a positive light instead.

The "bad" foreign movies are to be replaced with locally made programmes and documentaries on Namibia's wildlife and environment.

The President gave the order when he addressed staff members at the NBC yesterday afternoon.

Immediately after yesterday's directive the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) made changes to its schedule and started showing local productions made several years ago in the late afternoon.

The sudden changes irritated some local viewers who reportedly peppered the NBC with calls of complaint late in the afternoon.

Although the South African-made soapie 'Generations' survived the purge, the US-made 'Bold and the Beautiful' was dropped from the schedule, much to the annoyance of those who follow the series.

The late night sci-fi mini-series Dune was replaced by a programme on the recent Swapo congress.

Last night a programmer said Nujoma's order had caused confusion as the staff did not know which programmes to screen and ended up pulling old tapes off the shelves almost at random.

Currently Nujoma doubles as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting and as such he is the line minister for the NBC.

It was not clear which of the programmes the NBC is currently showing will now be ditched. One that is unlikely to see the light of day again is 'Dangerous Women', an American series about female criminals which aired several years ago. The President singled out the series for having a bad influence on the youth.

NBC spokeswoman Umbi Karuaihe-Upi said "he (Nujoma) urged the workers to work harder and to concentrate on positive, educational programmes, like nature ... movies that show our country in a positive way."

She said he spoke out against movies "showing crime and explicit sexual scenes".

One NBC staffer said the President "criticised the NBC for showing shameful things ... violent things like 'Dangerous Women'. From today he said he does not want us to show them."

One senior staff member, a white woman who has lived in Namibia for almost three decades, said not all the European values were "bad".

But the President, according to an NBC staff member who attended yesterday's meeting, accused her of having come to Namibia with "a British colonial mentality ... then why are you keeping the good things to yourself and showing us lesbianism?"

A source quoted him as having warned NBC staff that "if you show them [sex and violence] you must pack and go."

He also wondered why the NBC has not reported on crimes committed by its own staff members such as cheque thefts and the smashing of eight vehicles by a senior manager, who was later exonerated.

One staff member was reportedly called a "liar" by the President when he made an observation about "sabotage" at the state broadcaster.

The President after being told about the alleged sabotage apparently said "you are a liar, if you saw people sabotaging (the NBC) why didn't you report them to me".

Another senior staffer was also called a "liar" after he told the President, during an open session, that financial constraints were a hindrance to operations at the state broadcaster.

One source said "you could see people were scared ... he (Nujoma) was putting people off. He was calling them liars [when] anyone who stood up."

An insider said the NBC would struggle to find enough local programmes to show in the coming days as they have not produced that many homegrown films since Independence due to financial constraints.

Already last night the broadcaster was showing old music programmes from 1994.

NBC sources said the sudden programme changes may have legal implications as the broadcaster is under contract to show certain programmes.

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